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We walked between 30-40 km’s a day and dealt with all the teething problems you can imagine at the start of such a trip – blisters, heat exhaustion, sore shoulders & feet, boredom, dehydration, no food, sun burn, rashes, finding places to sleep on regional roads, etc. etc. the list does go on. Despite all of this it was an incredible time, one that gives you a lot of time to think about the future and to reflect on the past. Some of those thoughts and reflections are captured in this blog. Change is a peculiar beast, you can fight…

It is hard to believe, after the past 2 years travelling in some of the most poverty stricken parts of the globe and visiting the most disadvantaged communities, that so many people choose to remain conveniently oblivious to the suffering of our fellow human beings. The cocooned environment of the sheltered, cozy western lifestyle has the habit of cutting people off from connecting with society at large. We fall into a truly detrimental pattern of becoming caught up in trivial ‘first world problems’ in our own lives. Believe me I know. However we must see these things for what they…

We spent the first half of 2014 living in the Child Rescue Centre in regional Cambodia, in a tiny little village called Krang Lovea. I spent my days working with the children and the staff there, guiding them to be a little bit better at everything they were trying to achieve and Ashley was in charge of teaching English to the kids and the community. We loved our time there but it did not come without it’s challenges, the weather seemed to always be against us, we went through some of the most intense weather I have ever experienced –…

After 11.5 months of volunteering in some of the poorest countries on earth where I spent my time in child rescue centres, HIV orphanages, homes for the disabled and in slum schools teaching English, across December and January I spent 4 weeks back in Sydney. The excitement of being back home was soon overcome by a feeling of being totally out of place, a feeling that I did not belong here anymore and that my time needs to be spent in developing countries helping the underprivileged through my charity. Regardless of this feeling I made the most of the summer…

26 hours, 3 flights and 4 countries and we find ourselves back in Tanzania, the country where Ashley and I found each other. This time we are not single volunteers, we are, of course married and we have our 21-month-old daughter Indie with us. It’s been 3 and half years since we have been back and things have certainly changed in every aspect of our lives. This time we are back for 2 reasons, primarily to host a group of young boys from St Augustine’s College who we brought over through Trek for Change to help us finish building the school we…

Some people over the past year, because of the focus on our café in Manly, have approached me and asked me if I am still doing the charity work, this frustrates me a lot. Ashley and I spend our time growing the business so we can do the charity work, our long term goal remains unchanged and will always be the same – to have a sustainable business that supports both the charity and our lifestyle enabling us to be present where the charity operates. It sounds quite simple doesn’t it but let me assure you it has had its…

I am sitting here unnerved as the turbulence continues but I know I’ll be home in about 12 hours so I am holding onto that happiness to get me through. Toby Gardner, my friend, colleague and fellow Director of our charity is sitting next to me, we just finished a very successful 4 days in Cambodia. We covered almost every inch of the country. Traveling from the airport in Phnom Penh straight to Kompong Chhnang Province, we visited the kids at the Child Rescue Centre in the small rural village of Krang Lovea. From there we visited more children that…